Danny Cooksey

Danny has been in show business since he was very young and is best remembered for playing the roles of Sam McKinney on the last few seasons of the television show Diff’rent Strokes (1984–1986). He is also known for his portrayal of Robert “Bobby” Budnick on the Nickelodeon program Salute Your Shorts.

Film, Television and Voice-Over Career

In 1980, Danny and his mother moved to Los Angeles, California with hopes of achieving a career in country music. However, when a talent agent caught his singing performance, he was invited to audition for the role of Sam McKinney on Diff’rent Strokes.

Danny spent 3 years as a regular on Strokes before moving on to The Cavanaughs, where he stayed for another 3 years.

In 1983, he played an orphan on The Dukes of Hazzard who befriends a lost Basset hound mistaken for Sherriff Rosco’s hound Flash. He also starred in several television roles, most notably Nickelodeon’s Salute Your Shorts, in which he was cast largely due to his red hair. Danny also had a brief role in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, where he played Tim, actor Edward Furlong’s (John Conner) friend.

Danny has had a successful voice over-career; he lent his voice for The Further Adventures of SuperTed where he voiced SuperTed in the US broadcast of the series. He also voiced Little Clowns of Happytown, Montana Max in Tiny Toon Adventures, Victor the bully in Ren & Stimpy, Jack Spicer in Xiaolin Showdown, and Disney’s 101 Dalmatians TV series as well as Dave in Disney’s Dave the Barbarian. He also provided the voice for the character Urchin, a merboy in Disney’s The Little Mermaid.

Danny also provided the voice for “Stoop Kid” in the Nicktoon Hey Arnold!, in which the character looked very much like him. He also provided the voice for the character Peter Lik in What’s with Andy? (2001–2002).

Other television roles include A Smoky Mountain Christmas opposite Dolly Parton and Lee Majors, and he also starred alongside Richard Dean Anderson in a guest role on MacGyver and a regenerated hellspawn in the episode “The Burning Man” from the 1980s version of The Twilight Zone.

He also appeared in an episode of Are You Afraid Of The Dark? and made an appearance on Kim Possible episode Vir-tu-ron as a secondary character Jake (player with the glasses). He played the character Keef in two episodes of Invader Zim (though one episode was never finished or aired, his voice work for the episode is still available on DVD) as well as other minor parts.

What’s He Doing Now?

Danny is married and has two children and continues to to work in the field of voice-over animation. He recently was a regular on Pepper Ann. He also provided the voice for one of the secret scientists in Cartoon Network’s The Secret Saturdays, Django of the Dead in El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera, Hot-Streak (Francis Stone) from Static Shock and a young Snake Eyes in G.I. Joe: Renegades. He also had a small role in Mom and Dad Save The World as well as a role as Brad on Kick Buttowski. Danny also voiced Peng in Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness.

Music Career

Danny was the lead singer in the band Bad4Good. They released one CD, Refugee, on Interscope Records in 1992.

In 1996, he went into a band called Lucy’s Milk. Since 2004, he has been in a band called Arbuckle.